Ever notice how writing is a lot like cooking? Apparently, a lot of folks have. A quick Google search turns up heaps of blog posts making this same comparison. But I think it’ll be fun to explore those similarities too.

Some people gather and arrange all their ingredients and utensils before they even think of turning on the stove. Meanwhile, there are others who turn on the burner before they’re sure what’s going in the pan.

Your final product may take longer to cook than expected. It may turn out too dry. May turn out too runny. It may turn out too dense, or too light. A bit raw. A bit tough and overdone. Too spicy. Too bland. You have to sprinkle in certain ingredients. You have to cook it a touch longer on one side than the other. Too many adverbs or exclamation points can be like too much thyme–overpowering.

You may be able to put a beautiful sear on a filet mignon, but not everyone enjoys meat. Different dishes may require much different ingredients; different amounts of time spent in the kitchen; different amounts of work. And some, no matter how fancy or delicious a dish is, or how much time went into its creation, would rather have pizza.

Depending on the type of person you are, you may think your own cooking is the most delicious thing that’s ever graced your taste buds. If everyone’s cooking were as good as yours, you might be more likely to try different dishes. Then there are those who think their own cooking tastes like dog food and wouldn’t feed it to their nemesis. They remember loading too much salt into the pot and taste every grain of it. But they resist scraping it into the trash because… well, it took time and effort, so might as well choke it down.

Cooking requires patience. Practice. Time. Money. But you don’t want to keep eating the stuff everyone else is making. You love it though. In fact, if only you could cook half as well as some of those people… But you’re compelled to. You might even have no other choice.

You know one thing’s for sure: if you don’t at least try, you won’t cook anything.

-Kevin